Vatican reconsiders limbo for unbaptised babies

A Vatican advisory commission said today there was reason to hope that babies who die without baptism can go to heaven, suggesting that the Catholic Church revise its long-standing teaching on so-called limbo.

After several years of study, the International Theological Commission issued its findings on limbo in a document posted on Origins, the documentary service of Catholic News Service.

“We can say we have many reasons to hope that there is salvation for these babies,” the Rev. Luis Ladaria, a Jesuit who is the commission’s secretary-general, said.

Although Catholics have long believed that children who die without being baptised are with original sin and thus excluded from heaven, the Church has no formal doctrine on the matter.

Theologians have taught that such children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness, a state commonly called limbo, but without being in communion with God.

In the document, the advisory panel said there were “serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptised infants who die will be saved and brought into eternal happiness”.